The Girl Who Made The Stars Move
by Nellark
Summary: The Doctor and Rose keep bumping into a curious, lonely young witch. Then, one day, he arrives without her. She is gone, and he needs Hermione. How will The Doctor's closeness to Hermione affect Rose when she is reunited with him? Story covering all Hermione's encounters with the Doctor and their turbulent relationship. [Hermione X Ten X Rose] Rated T for adult themes and language.
1. Chapter 1

Coldness: it was the only thing thriving on the planet now. That, and panic.

"HELP US, DOCTOR!" the slitheen cried. "SAVE US!"

The Slitheen government Headquarters were situated ten thousand feet below the planet's crust. The walls were constructed out of eight-feet thick Pinch-Rock and the whole vicinity was just a mile away from the scorching molten core of the planet. All this, and the walls, floors and ceiling were frosting over. The shaky, terrified breaths of the Slitheen came out in thick fog clouds. They all shivered violently.

"PLEASE, DOCTOR! WE MADE AMENS CENTURIES AGO!" the Leader cried.

The doctor bounded around from screen to screen, pulling at his own hair in frustration. The low temperatures did not affect him, but the suffering of millions did. It had all been down to a lively encounter with one Donna Noble, of course, that brought his hearts to life again. For that, he was grateful. But this was no time for sentiment...

"I can't see what's causing it..." the Doctor muttered to himself. His eyes darted around at the multitude of screens that showed graphs and stats of the planet's main stats and demographics.

"D-D-Doctor..." shuddered a female voice. Rose staggered up beside him, clutching her arms tight around herself. She was very, very pale... "Wh-wh-what's going on?"

"I... I have no idea how this is happening..." the chill was starting to bite at the Doctor now. Still, he was safe from the painful cold that these Slitheen ... and Rose... were feeling.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!" their leader cried through his shivers. "WHAT'S HAPPENING?!"

The Doctor's eyes locked onto a screen. The answers were there, clear as day.

"This... this is impossible..." he sprinted across to the other side of the room to where a huge projection of the Raxocoricophalapatorious sky line was being shown. He glared at it. He was astonished, baffled, horrified, confused...

"D-D-Doctor, p-please, d-d-do something!"

"It's Earth," exclaimed the Doctor finally. "Planet Earth's doing this..."

The Slitheen leader was too cold to be outraged, but he might've declared a war on humans there and then.

"There's some kind of tractor beam moving the entire planet..."

How were they doing this?! By his calculations, Earth should be in its 1995th year of vague civilisation. They'd barely just set foot on the mood, for crying out loud... how were they doing _this_?!

"Give us five seconds," said the Doctor abruptly to the Slitheen leader. He rushed back across the room towards the TARDIS. "I'll trace the tractor beam. I'll put a stop to this. Rose, come on."

The Doctor grabbed Rose's stone-called, trembling hand and ran with her into the TARDIS. Even he, who was not dying from the cold, could feel the immense relief that the TARDIS' heat provided. Once the doors were shut, he was at the console immediately.

"Oh it's so warm in here..." breathed Rose, collapsing against the closed doors. The colour in her lips started to return. At the console, The Doctor didn't show any signs of slowing. He jabbed every button and pulled every leaver that he could, staring worriedly into the screen.

"Doctor, are you sure it's Earth that's doing this? I had no idea that they could-"

"Of course it is! Their data says it is, my data says it is... _oh_, andguess which city it's coming from..."

He twisted a dial to the right. He slammed the main leaver downwards and with a sharp jolt, they were soaring through space, all the way down to London, Earth, 1995...

oOo

When the TARDIS landed, The Doctor launched himself towards the doors. Rose squirmed on the floor, breathing heavily through the pain in her arm.

"Doctor... Doctor, I think I've broken my... Doctor?!"

He'd gone. Rose winced as she pulled herself up to a standing position at the railing. She cradled her arm as she approached the ajar doors. It was night-time... or they hadn't landed on Earth.

Rose stepped through the doors, pushing them open, and found herself standing in the corner of a small, square walled garden. The Doctor was standing very still in front of her.

"Doctor, will you take a look at my-"

"Shhh!" he hissed.

She came to stand beside him, ready to argue, but saw that his eyes were fixed firmly on something ahead of them. She followed his gaze.

Over by the young cherry-blossom tree in the middle of garden was a little girl. She lay on her back in her pyjamas and dressing gown and was pointing up at the sky, making swirling patters with her finger.

"Doctor, is _she_ doing this?!" Rose whispered. The Doctor nodded.

"Well, then... let's stop her!" Rose took a step towards the girl before The Doctor grabbed her wrist.

"ARGH!" Rose shrieked, snatching her wrist back and examining it. It had gone very swollen. "That hurt!"

"We _cannot _go storming over there without a background story, she'll scream!"

"Doctor, the Slitheen are _dying_. Whatever she's doing-"

"Time is relative, Rose, we can always-"

"No, not _always_!"

"Look, we need to come up with a-"

"_Since when do you_-!"

"Excuse me..." said a snooty voice. The Doctor and Rose both froze, staring wide-eyed at each other. After a long second of panic, they turned slowly towards the little frizzy-haired girl that was now staring at them with curiosity.

"Are you alright?" the girl asked, looking at Rose. "Only, you sounded hurt just a moment ago..."

Rose and The Doctor continued to stare. She really wasn't phased...

"Is your arm broken?" she asked calmly.

"Nah," said The Doctor, finally breaking out of his trance. "She just banged it on the journey down here. She'll be fine. We'll bandage it up, make some camomile tea. She'll be right as rain in no time."

"It looks broken," said the girl defiantly. Then, she stooped down and picked something up off the floor. She picked up a long brown wooden object that was way too intricately-carved to be a common garden twig. She sauntered up to Rose, who looked a little nervous. The girl pointed the stick at Rose's wrist.

"_Reparo."_

"ARGH!"

With a sickening 'snap' sound, the pain in Rose's arm vanished. She held her arm up and twisted her hand around, examining it.

"That's amazing... how did you do that?!"

"Magic!" the girl beamed. Rose smiled back awkwardly before looking to The Doctor. They shared a similar expression of masked alarm. The Doctor looked back at the girl.

"Magic, eh?" he said softly, bending down to her level. "Can you do magic, then?"

"Of course!" said the girl, looking delighted to be speaking of it. "... isn't that why you're here?"

Rose furrowed her eyebrows. "What d'you mean?"

"You're... you're from Hogwarts, aren't you? Or the Ministry..." the girl's eyed widened. "Oh heavens, are you from the Ministry?! Did I do something wrong?!"

"Calm down, calm down..." soothed The Doctor, holding his hands up in defence from her panic. She waited, looking a little scared, for his explanation. Behind him, Rose was staring wide-eyed in shock once again. Hogwarts... _reparo..._

"You're right. We're from the Ministry. But we're not here to tell you off..." he quickly rummaged around in the inside pocket of his suit jacket and flashed her his psychic paper without conviction. He doubted that she'd even managed to look at it properly. "We... we came to ask a favour of you."

"Oh... okay. What is it?"

The Doctor looked back at Rose, then back to the girl.

"...when we arrived, you were pointing up there," he nodded in the direction of the night sky. "What were you doing that for?"

The girl smiled. "I was moving the stars."

"..._moving _the stars?"

"Yes! Is... is that allowed? It's just, that star up there," she pointed directly above her, "was too bright. It made the other stars look funny. So, I moved it further back a bit."

The Doctor looked up. Sure enough, there was a small clustering of stars that looked sufficiently normal and even. He looked back at her.

"Brilliant," he grinned. "Absolutely brilliant. How old are you?"

"Eleven."

"Eleven years old, and you're already re-arranging the Universe..."

The girl stared at him blankly. "I'm sorry?"

The Doctor blinked back into the realism of the situation. "Oh, yeah, um... we need you to move the star back again,"

"...why?"

"Because you've... you've frozen a solar system."

"Oh!"

Instantly, the girl looked up at the sky again and raised her hand, pointing just above them. The Doctor and Rose watched with victorious grins as the star in the centre of the cluster began shining brighter than the others around it. It twinkled beautifully.

"There. Is that better?"

"Much. Thank you... er... what's your name?"

"Hermione. Hermione Granger."

The Doctor glanced up at Rose who looked ready to faint.

"Sir..." began Hermione. "I'm sorry about the star. You won't tell Dumbledore about this, will you? I'm terrified of starting at Hogwarts as it is. I'd rather not have the headmaster hate me before I've even been sorted into my house..."

"Ah, Dumbledore..." sighed The Doctor, smiling nostalgically. "Great man, is Old Dumbles... good at ping-pong, makes an excellent plum cake... should never be allowed near a microphone..."

"_Ahem,"_ coughed Rose behind him. It was then that she stepped forward and crouched down beside The Doctor, looking seriously at Hermione.

"You're worried about Hogwarts?" she repeated.

Hermione nodded. "What if I don't make any friends? What if I get lost and end up in the Forbidden Forest? What if... ugh, what if I'm sorted into Slytherin? I've heard they're all..."

"Ah, there's nothing wrong with Slytherin!" said Rose jovially. She slapped The Doctor on the back. "The Doctor here was one, weren't you?"

"Er... yeah! Yeah, it was... er... great fun."

He glanced narrowly at Rose, who wore a satisfied grin on her face. She then remembered something else Hermione had asked, and turned back to her.

"You'll make friends," she vowed in a low voice. "Trust me. You'll see."

Hermione watched Rose's face for any signs of mockery or uncertainty. To her pleasure, there was none. She smiled gratefully.

"Well, we'd better be off," said Rose finally. She got up and wiped the mud from the knees of her jeans. It was a feeble attempt. Hermione pointed her wand at her jeans.

"_Scougify," _ she muttered. Rose's jeans were instantly mud-free.

"Thanks!" she smiled. "Doctor, we should go."

"Ah, yes... The Slitheen will want an explanation..."

The Doctor stood up. Hermione watched the strange night-time visitors walk away towards the shadowy area in the corner of her garden. Rose vanished into the shadows. The Doctor paused mid-step and turned back round.

"I wouldn't worry about Hogwarts, Hermione," he said. "If anyone gives you grief, you've got enough magic in you to hex them into next Tuesday."

Hermione giggled. Her eyes shone brightly in the darkness of the night, reminding The Doctor of a rare sense of awe and wonderment that he'd experienced many times in his childhood. With Hermione here, his childhood seemed very far away... he looked up at the stars again and chuckled.

"Hermione Granger," he grinned. "The girl who made the stars move..."

Hermione tilted her head in intrigue. It was an odd moment of phrasing, yet bizarrely pleasant to hear.

"Are you going to come back?" she blurted out, adrenaline suddenly pulsing around her as he took a step towards the shadows... or wherever Rose had vanished to.

"Ah, you'll see me again!" he promised. "Though I won't say _when _exactly... I've never been good with deadlines..."

The Doctor turned round and trudged across the muddy lawn and into the shadows, out of sight. Hermione watched tentatively for something to happen. Perhaps they'd zoom up into the sky on broomsticks... although she hadn't seen them arrive that way.

Within seconds of watching The Doctor disappear, a low rumbling shook the ground. A whirring sound began, and a light that Hermione was positive had not been there before started whirling around itself, pulsing light around the garden like a lighthouse. Not long later, the peculiar noises and lights stopped. Hermione was definitely alone now. Alone, but not quite so lonely.

_A/N: I'll be sure to post the next chapter soon. In the meantime, please review. _


	2. Chapter 2

Good libraries had always been Hermione's favourite places in the word.

Not the modern ones, with sticky plastic covers and bitter clacking old ladies at computers and poorly stocked shelves... no, the _good _libraries were the old ones: streets of aisles, the shelves crammed full of old texts, the lignin in the pages and the damp leather giving off a scent of richness that could remind Hermione just how much she could learn. Just how much _more_ there was to learn. How every book written contained (hopefully) the heart and soul of the writer. The passion and knowledge of a stranger captured in print forever, and Hermione's eyes could meet it. Those were her favourite places. The Hogwarts Library was one such place.

Hermione sat deep in the corner of a shadowy aisle, flicking through another heavy history text. She knew that, had she been at home still, her mother would be ordering her to put her homework away and go to bed. Perhaps that was just one of the perks of living away from home. She could spend hours among these ancient books without getting tired, and nobody would tell her to go to bed at ridiculously early hours.

Even if she _was_ tired, there was no way she could abandon her search now... _Nicholas Flamel... Nicholas Flamel... where are you? _Hermione turned over another page of _Fifteenth Century Fiends _and was met with another double-page of block text, faded by time and neglect, with seemingly no mention of Nicholas Flamel.

"Get_back _here!" she heard someone hiss. She sat bolt upright and looked around her.

"Keep your eyes peeled, Rose!" a man's voice whispered back. Hermione scrambled to her feet. Rose?!

She peered over the row of books in the shelves nearest to her and saw the silhouettes of two tip-toeing people.

As lightly as she could, she sprinted down the aisle parallel to the people on the other side. When she turned the corner, she crashed.

"Whoa there!" said a man as Hermione thudded into his chest. When he steadied her, she looked up at him.

It was The Doctor, that was definite. Same thick dark hair, same long beige coat, even the same dusty blue suit... same face. Almost.

"Doctor?" she said quietly. "Is something wrong?"

He stared at her, eyebrows raised. He opened his mouth to say something before the second figure came skidding round the corner. Rose: windswept and equally as shocked to see her.

"Rose!" said the Doctor, with a sudden cheery tone. "Look who I found!" he turned back to Hermione and grinned. There was definitely something different about him. The way his cheeks didn't quite dimple like before, and his eyes did not sparkle.

"Hermione... yeah..." Rose breathed, shaking her head slowly. She squeezed her eyes shut as though meditating through a sharp pain, or to get her head round something. "How've you been?"

Hermione's mood instantly darkened. "I've been fine."

The Doctor pouted like a child. "Just fine?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm splendid... what are you doing in a library?"

The question was answered not by her companions, but by a bizarre scratching noise coming from their feet. They all looked down at their shoes, but there was no creature in sight.

"Um... er... Rose has lost her... pet... badger. Have you seen it?"

"Why does she have a badger?"

"She's an oddball, right Rose?"

"I didn't see a badger..."

"It's invisible."

"_Invisible?!_"

The Doctor' eyes darted down to the floor near Hermione's left, then back up to her. He smiled innocently. She narrowed her eyes.

"But I heard it make that funny noise. It didn't _sound _like a badger..."

"Have you ever heard an invisible badger before?"

Hermione huffed and crossed her arms. "If it really is invisible, why did you ask me if I'd seen it?"

The Doctor stared at her with wide eyes for several seconds. He opened and shut his mouth like a goldfish. Behind him, Rose folded her arms and gave a smug grin.

"Because... because... because you're magic!" he managed, stepping back and returning Rose's smug grin. However, his victory was short-lived. The 'M' word seemed to strike a chord with Hermione, who frowned down at her shoes.

"Hermione?" asked Rose, stepping forward slowly. When Hermione looked up, her eyes were sparkling with moisture.

"Hey, hey, hey!" soothed the Doctor, gently pulling her by the arm back into one of the aisles. It was just as well the library was empty at this hour. They'd created a funny scene. "What are all these tears for?" he asked.

Hermione sniffed. "Being magic was fun for a while. Now all I want to do is go home."

Hermione watched The Doctor's expression as he absorbed her words. She wasn't confused by his face anymore. A mask of childishness seemed to melt away as his eyes grew sadder... more empathetic. He really was a very sad man.

"But Hermione..." began Rose, coming even closer. "This is Hogwarts. _Hogwarts!_"

Hermione stared at her as though she hadn't heard her.

"You were so excited... and now you're bloody miserable!"

Hermione flinched. The Doctor's wide eyes flickered awkwardly between the two girls.

"Well?" asked Rose. "What's changed? Why are you so sad?"

Hermione bowed her head again. Through her fringe, she glanced inexplicably at the Doctor, whose anticipant gaze willed her to speak.

"People bully me."

The Doctor's face was unchanging, but Hermione sensed a reaction. It was a rare thing that she could not explain. The air around him seemed to soften.

"I have no friends. It's lonely."

Rose knelt down beside the Doctor and stared at her with sympathy. It was not the same as empathy. Empathy felt like a hug from a loving parent after a difficult day: as though loneliness was being safely kept out. That's what Hermione saw in the Doctor's eyes, not Rose's.

"Who's bullying you?" asked Rose, her temper leaking into her voice.

Hermione's expression darkened. "Ronald Weasley... and every pupil in the school."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Maybe _Ronald _ fancies you."

"That's not funny."

"I never said it was."

Hermione looked back at the Doctor, who was smiling. It was a nice smile, encouraging, and with promise. She smiled weakly back at him.

"I wouldn't worry about Ron Weasley if I were you," said the Doctor in a deliberately quiet voice. In the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Rose balk.

"Why, what are you going to do?" asked Hermione hopefully.

The Doctor looked upwards in thought. "Nothing. It's not my department, I'm afraid."

Rose stood up and wandered away from them, presumably in search of whatever enigmatic creature it was that they were searching for. Hermione was young, but even she knew that it was not an invisible badger...

"Doctor..." she began, tilting her head . "Were you ever bullied?"

The Doctor scratched his chin. "Yeah, people have tried."

He glanced down at her. His eyes were serious, but he held a smirk there that he reserved only for those intimate moments with the important ones. "People will always try. Remember that."

"Doctor?" called Rose from several feet away from them.

"Oh. Right, yeah, the um... the invisible badger."

Hermione giggled as he shot her a knowing glance. He straightened up.

"You're funny."

"Well, I try."

"No, I mean... you're odd. You don't seem like a doctor. What's your proper name?"

"_Doctor!_" hissed Rose. She was a fair distance away from them now. The Doctor took several urgent steps towards her, but stopped. He looked between Rose and Hermione, finally deciding on his parting words.

"I'll come back!" he said quickly, before dashing into the shadows.

Hermione stared after him, waiting.

It was ridiculous that she should behave in such a way towards someone whose name she didn't know, but the two of them were imaginary friends to her. Their identities didn't matter. They were like a fictional crime duo or a couple you always see at the bus stop: strangers to you, but you'd worry if one of them did not appear one day. You might even cry.

_oOo_

_A/N: Everybody say "Goodbye, Rose! Have fun in the parallel universe!"_

_Please review. I'm pretty sure my next chapter will be up quicker than this one was. Sorry about that. _

_Nel X_


	3. Chapter 3

The third time Hermione met the Doctor was a lot like the first. They did not recognise each other at first.

She sat up in bed, lolling her head from side to side. It was something she'd been doing for a few minutes now. It was a side effect of the deep-set irritation from having a furry body and an uncontrollable tail. Why had she ever thought that it was a good idea to pluck a hair from a random robe and use it for polyjuice potion? When had she _ever_ been that careless?

It was night-time. The hospital wing was dark. A few dying candles illuminated the few sleeping bodies around the ward. They were all asleep. She was alone. Tears welled in her eyes. She blinked them back, only to be caught off-guard once again by the sheer concentration of detail and pattern that she could see with these cat eyes. She would never get used to them.

A cold hospital ward, a cat's face and a tickly reminder that she'd spend the next few days coughing up disgusting clumps of fur. Two best friends who'd laughed at her and a potential monster on the loose. It all seemed... apocalyptic.

She cried silently.

"Hermione?"

She looked up. There in the doorway, with the golden flickering light in the hallway shining gold all around him was a man. It was impossible that this man was The Doctor, for he'd left a year ago. He'd ran after Rose and not come out from the shadows. He was dead, or gone, or hiding. He didn't want her.

A whole year had passed. Same suit, same shoes, different look. The way he stood unnerved something deep inside her. On the outside however, more tears fell silently down her tabby cheeks.

He was the last person she wanted to see now.

"Don't look at me," she whimpered. He would not be able to see her from where he stood. She was encased in darkness.

"Why not?" he asked. His voice startled her. It sounded so wrong... then again, was there anything about him that should logically sound right?

He stepped into the room and slowly approached her, walking with practiced muted footsteps. As soon as his face came into light, right at the foot of her bed, both parties balked. He did so, because the little girl he'd met twice before now resembled a giant cat.

Hermione didn't need cat eyes to see everything wrong with his face. Whatever he'd been hiding behind a year ago was gone, broken, shattered. His face was exactly the same, but looked centuries older. His jaw was locked in restraint for speaking and his eyes were hooded, reflecting an impossible length of time watching wars, death and cruelty. This was The Doctor that was trying to be true to himself.

"What happened to you?" he asked her, his voice void of everything. Emotion, empathy, even care. Hermione was almost too afraid to speak.

"Polyjuice Potion," she whispered. "... and you?"

The Doctor gave her a hard stare. He swallowed. "Got held up."

Hermione inhaled deeply. "You were gone for a year."

The Doctor nodded and looked angrily around him, as though the castle walls offended him. "Like I said... I got held up."

"You didn't have to come back," she shrugged. He looked back at her. Though he hid it well, Hemione saw confusion in his face.

"Don't pretend that you came back to see me," she said. She was suddenly reminded of all the hours accumulated in the past year that had been spent scanning her surroundings, watching for him, praying for him to come back. They'd met twice. It was ridiculous. _She _was ridiculous, and he'd done this to her. "You're on some sort of mission. I'm in your way again. Well, I'm not going to start pouring my heart out to you. Carry on with whatever it is you're doing."

She crossed her arms and looked away from him. Any minute now, Rose would come in and force herself to be sympathetic towards her. The Doctor would follow suit.

"I don't know your name," she continued, still refusing to look up at him. "I've met you twice. Both times, you've landed in my life without an explanation. I should've told a grown=up by now. I can't do any research on you, because I don't know who you are. You're just... someone."

She heard a funny noise come from him. A sniff perhaps, or a cough. She looked at him finally, and instantly felt her heart sink.

She'd seen her father cry twice: once when he was in hospital, again when he'd found out that his daughter was a witch. Something about men crying always made Hermione angry at the world. Nobody was entirely dependable. Everyone needed a shoulder to cry on. Not everybody had one.

"Doctor?"

"Hermione..." he was trying so hard to keep himself composed that he shook with the effort. His shaking made tears fall. "Rose is gone."

Hermione felt as though poison was washing through her bones. This was concentrated remorse. "What do you mean 'gone'?"

"I put her in danger. Hermione, I lost her."

Hermione stifled a gasp. A broken man stood before her, looking more like a little boy with every tear that fell, and every wracking sob that escaped him. She hopped off her bed and threw her arms around her waist. More sobs left him as his arms went around her. She gently pushed him backward until he was forced to sit on the edge of the bed behind him. She climbed onto the bed beside him and put her arms round his neck.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled into his shoulder feebly. "I can't imagine what you're feeling..."

"Likewise," he sniffed. She smiled weakly. It was just her luck that when he finally returned, she'd turned into a cat. She was an embarrassment; a shame. It was no wonder that people picked on her so much. She hugged The Doctor closer.

Hemione suddenly balked. These self-deprecating thoughts placed a mirror in front of her. She depended on this man and he'd come from Merlin-knows-where to see her. She had no idea who he was.

Fear and threat would never compare to the loss of... well... whoever she was to him. That thought alone sobered her up enough to say the things that she'd waited a year to say.

"Why are you here?" she asked abruptly, ignoring the tears that were falling from both of their eyes. Devastation changed to bewilderment in an instant. She let go of him and wiped the tears from her tabby face.

He stared at her, looking hurt and insulted.

"I don't know who you are. You just appeared one day, then again months later, then disappeared. No explanation, for goodness sake, 'Doctor' can't be your real name, can it?"

She was upsetting him further, but in a way that made her fear for him. His mind was darkening.

"Invisible badgers, moving stars... what _are_ you?!" she probed.

He closed his eyes. "I shouldn't have come back," he murmured.

Hermione's bottom lip wobbled. "When why are you here?"

He swallowed thickly. "I needed... I..."

His face screwed up as new tears fell. It was a kick in her stomach. He was all alone.

"It's not fair..."

"I know, Doctor."

"It's not fair on _you._"

Hermione inhaled sharply. This, someone thinking of her, thinking of _her_ feelings, was completely new.

"I'm an anomaly. I shouldn't exist."

"Don't say that."

_"It's true."_

He stood up suddenly, dwarfing her. "I destroy lives. I kill people. Even Rose..."

Hermione let out a small sob. His eyes flickered to the door.

"I'll leave. I won't come back. I can at least promise you that."

He walked away from her, down the middle of the ward and round the corner of the door, out of sight.

Hermione sat there in the cold, silent room. Her mind was filled with clouds of smoke, obscuring the truth from her. Of course she didn't know who The Doctor was. Of course she didn't _really _know what happened to Rose. She didn't even know how he got into Hogwarts. He was a complete mystery, but there some force of nature that was bringing him to her so often. He was_ her _mystery: someone to make her special.

_"No!"_ she leapt off the bed and ran after him.

She used guess work to find him. She swerved round corners on account of spontaneity. It wasn't long before she found him. She turned into a corridor and saw the door of a disused classroom fall shut. Her heart leapt. She ran to it and burst into the room just in time to see him step into a big blue box.

No time for explanations... _for now._

She charged down the aisle of the classroom towards the box and flung the doors open.

oOo

_A/N- Boom. To be continued, obviously. _

_Leave a review and I'll update as soon as I can, _

_Nel X_

_P.S. Go to my profile page and follow me on tumblr. _


	4. Chapter 4

"Hermione..."

He watched her anxiously for signs of incomprehension or fear. She showed none of these. A twelve year old girl was appraising the interior of the TARDIS looking entirely nonplussed.

"Impressive..." she said at long last. "Undetectable Extension Charm, yes?"

"Something like that, yeah," said the Doctor. "Hermione, you can't stay here."

"Who said anything about staying? I've got exams coming up and a monster to defeat."

The Doctor shook his head. It was damned near impossible that such an impressionable mind, whose logic was unparalleled, was not fazed by this technology.

"Here," from his jacket pocket, he pulled out his sonic screwdriver. Hermione looked at it in bewilderment.

"That can't be a wand..." she mused. "It's not made of wood."

"It's not a wand," he said. He pointed it at her face and she balked. "It's alright, it's alright, it's not going to hurt!" he said quickly as he pushed the button. Neon blue light illuminated her face as the fur shrunk into her skin and her eyes flooded with warm brown once again.

"There. Human."

She felt her face. Soft skin, no whiskers, normal eyes, no ears. She blushed and grasped around her back. No tail.

"Thanks," she smiled.

"That's okay. Now, you have to leave."

"Why?"

"Because... I said so."

Hermione scoffed and crossed her arms. "That's a rubbish reason! You just want to be alone and mope!"

The Doctor stared at her. She did not back down, and raised an eyebrow.

"I... you... I..." he spluttered. A smirk played at the corners of her mouth. He ran a hand through his hair. He couldn't recall ever meeting such a smug little child...

Eventually, she seemed to accept that he had nothing more to say. She peered around at the TARDIS curiously.

"Is this where you live?"

"Yes. Yes, this is... er, well, sort of."

Hermione's expression darkened. "You're lying."

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes you are."

She wondered over to the seat on the other side of the console and sat down, arms and legs crossed like an accusing teacher at a consultation.

"Hermione, I can assure you, I'm not lying."

"This room wasn't here before. How did it get here?"

"I... it... flew."

"Rubbish."

"Hermione-"

"Where do you sleep at night? What's your real name? Are you even a wizard at all?"

The Doctor's jaw locked. He leaned against the console and looked down like a berated child.

"I'm not leaving..." Hermione said softly. "...until you tell me who you are."

Brown met brown. Something about Hermione made the Doctor feel entirely safe. She was hardly a child in her mind, except for maybe her inquisitive nature. She would not run off spreading his secrets around the entire school. Nobody would listen to her if she did.

"Alright," he mumbled, uncrossing his arms. Hermione sat up, seemingly a little surprised at his surrender.

"My name is The Doctor. That's it, that's what I'm called. I'm not a wizard. I'm not human."

"Are you a werewolf?" Hermione interjected, eyes widening in alarm.

"No."

"... you're not a ghost. You definitely don't look like a vampire."

"I'm an alien."

He saw her inhale sharply. Her eyes narrowed.

"If you're an alien, what planet are you from?"

"Gallifrey."

"That doesn't exist."

"It used to."

The Doctor watched with vague discomfort as the realisation shone in her eyes. Disbelief peppered her vision of course, but her eyes scanned the room and she weakly nodded at this information.

"You're all alone?"

"Yes."

"Except for Rose..."

The Doctor watched Hermione stand up and begin to walk round the console, looking at the buttons and leavers.

"You live in a flying room."

"Yep."

She stood still and swung her arms out around her, as though testing the air. Her presence in the TARDIS was discomforting, like a toddler in a china shop.

"So... you just fly around the world capturing beasts?"

The Doctor smirked half-heartedly. "That's... what it must look like."

"If I'm misinterpreting things, then please, indulge me!" she folded her arms crossly. "You don't seem to realise how maddening it is to have a friend whose name you don't know, who..."

"...who's an alien?"

Hermione glared at him, then grabbed the edge of the console. She took a deep breath.

"Why earth?" she asked quietly. "Why us? Why me?"

The Doctor's eyes darkened. He walked over and sat on the bench that she'd just vacated. "It's not just earth. It's everywhere. This is the TARDIS: Time And Relative Dimension In Space. I can go anywhere. Any country, any planet, any galaxy, any time. _Any _time..."

He could not read her expression. She remained still as a statue, her mind working at a million miles an hour behind her eyes. Perhaps she'd be another human he'd damage.

"Hermione?"

"Take me somewhere."

"...what?" The Doctor stood up at the same time that Hermione snapped out of her coma. She stared up at him in awe.

"I want to travel in time."

"No, Hermione..."

"Just one go! If you could _really _travel in time, you'd be able to take me back in time, or to another planet, and have me back here in ten seconds!"

The Doctor grimaced. He spun round and ran his hands over his face and head.

"... you could help us find the monster. If I went back in time, I could have longer to research!"

"Hermione, stop it."

"We could go back and save Harry's parents! WE COULD KILL VOLDEMORT!"

The Doctor leapt forward and grabbed her shoulders. She was silenced by the fury in his eyes.

"Have you not listened to a single thing I've said? You are not coming with me. End of story."

As he straightened up, Hermione seemed to shrink. Her shoulders sagged and the fire in her eyes was well and truly extinguished.

"This is because of Rose, isn't it?"

The Doctor swallowed. "Get out."

Hermione glared at him, hesitating for several seconds. When tears began to form, she spun round and walked back towards the door.

Alone again, he watched her bushy hair bounce as she sauntered out. It was cruel, really, to deny a child the opportunity to travel in time and space, but there was no way around the fact that she would surely be changed. He already knew Hermione's fate. He knew off all the battles and prejudice and heart break she would face. Her innocence would leave her in a natural way, if he could help it.

"Hermione, wait!" he dashed after. She stopped and turned hopefully, just before the door.

"I meant what I said. You can't come. It's too dangerous."

Her face fell again.

"Here," he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled something shiny out. He held it out to her. She picked it up and let it dangle.

"A necklace?" she asked doubtfully.

"Not just any necklace..." he whispered dramatically, his eyes wide in mock intrigue. Hermione smiled. "It's a time turner."

Hermione stared down at it. "I can... travel in time with this?"

"Certainly, to an extent."

Hermione looked astonished, but she soon frowned. "It's not the same thing."

"I know, I know. But it's the best thing I can do."

Hermione smiled half-heartedly and put it over head. It hung at a perfect length. Unprompted, she tucked the gallifreyan pendant into her shirt, concealing it.

"I was going to give it to Rose..." he explained. "as a present."

"Thank you," said Hermione softly.

The Doctor gently placed a hand on her shoulder, turned her around and marched her out of the door. "Don't go barmy with it. It's only useful for going backwards and forwards a few days."

"How boring," said Hermione pointedly, stepping out into the corridor. She faced him as he stood in the doorway of his flying room.

"Dumbledore will tell you the same thing as me. Bad things happen to wizards who meddle with time."

"It's a good thing you're not a wizard, then."

The Doctor chuckled. "I should go,"

"Go where?" she asked immediately.

The Doctor shrugged. "Away."

Hermione nodded. "Will you come back?"

"Probably not, no."

"Good."

The Doctor stared at her, knowing he had no right to be surprised.

"Awful things are happening at Hogwarts, Doctor. Things that might kill me."

"You're not going to die," he said seriously. "You're too clever."

Hermione looked doubtful.

"Those people who were petrified..." began the Doctor.

"How did you know about-?"

"-had they seen the monster?"

"I... probably..."

"And the spiders?"

"Doctor, what are you-"

"Goodbye, Hermione."

He didn't wait for her to respond. He merely shut the door and closed his eyes, allowing himself a moment to grieve the end of a strange friendship with this inquisitive little girl before he returned to the console. He flipped an innumerable number of leavers, not caring where he ended up. The TARDIS took off. He pictured Hermione standing alone in that stone corridor, watching the blue box disappear before her very eyes and making the conscious decision to be as chivalrous and brave as her Gryffindor ancestors claimed her to be.

oOo

_A/N: I hope you all enjoyed it! And of course he's coming back! But a long time will have passed since then..._


	5. Chapter 5

The first morning of September saw Hermione Granger visibly shaking on her makeshift bed at The Burrow. The newspaper she was clutching trembled with its reader's emotions.

The headline and accompanying photograph had been what made Hermione abruptly ask Mr Weasley if she could borrow it to read on the train. She ended up scanning the story in the room she shared with Ginny as soon as she was alone.

_"MYSTERIOUS BLUE CUPBOARD SEEN AT QUIDDITCH DISASTER"_

Her eyes burned. The photograph slapped across the double-spread showed a shuddering image (as the camera holder dashed about in the panic) of that blue box, clear as daylight, gradually fading from sight.

He hadn't helped anyone. He'd watched, or ran away.

"Hermione?" called a deep voice.

She slammed the Prophet shut and looked up to see Ron Weasley in the doorway, watching her with a rare expression of concern.

"What is it?" she asked, a little unkindly.

He balked. "Time to go."

"Oh... I'll be down in a minute."

"...you alright?"

"Yes."

"Kay," and he left. She listened to his heavy footsteps clunk down the stairs before stuffing her newspaper into her handbag before hauling her suitcase off the bed and disappearing from the room.

**Hollywood, USA, 1920.**

The sounds of superficial laughter and weary jazz music filled the crisp night air. There were the entrails of party streamers strewn across well-manicured hedgerows and floating in the luminous pool. Couples were kissing, tired men were smoking and drunken women were stumbling around.

"Doc? Hey, Doc! You out here?" called a familiar voice. Mr Fairbanks. The Doctor shrunk back into the shadows of the vast mansion.

"Say, anybody seen the Doctor?" called Fairbanks to his semi-conscious guests, none of which acknowledged his arrival. Fairbanks turned his head left quickly, and the Doctor cringed further into the shadows.

"There y'are!"

Too late.

"Here I am," the Doctor sighed. "Did you want me for something?"

Fairbanks' mouth was huge. His white teeth practically glowed in the dark with a fat cigar jammed between them, burning orange at the tip. He swaggered over to the Doctor with open arms.

"Only to thank you, buddy," he grinned. "We couldn't think of a better man to walk my Mary down the aisle. Today was special to her. It was lucky you were around!"

The Doctor smiled dryly. "No worries, Douglas."

"Mary would come out and thank you in person, but she's uh..." as he trailed off, the sound of a female vomitting into a shrubbery echoed throughout the garden. Both Douglas and the Doctor chuckled.

"Say, Doc..." began Douglas, with a more serious tone. "You're not yourself today. What's bothering you?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Nothing. I'm sorry I'm being a misery. I don't want to spoil your wedding day."

"Bullshit, Doctor!" Douglas snapped, wrenching the cigar from between his lips. "Let me get you a drink. We'll talk."

"No, Doug, really."

"Uh uh, none of that crap! Hey, Charlie! _Charlie_!"

Mr Chaplin appeared from behind another shruggery, a skinny girl dangling off his arm, groaning into his shoulder. He looked tired. "Yes, Doug?"

"Get the Doctor a scotch, will ya? He's a bit down tonight."

Charlie's eyebrows furrowed. "You alright, old sport?"

The Doctor snapped. "Yes, I'm fine, now will you both shut up?!"

Douglas and Charlie exchanged a bewildered glance. The Doctor sighed.

"Beat it, Charlie," said Douglas eventually. Charlie rolled his eyes and dragged the woman away. As soon as he was gone, Douglas threw an arm around the Doctor's shoulders.

"Doc, I might come across as a little dense at times, ya know... but I know what's bothering you."

"Really?" asked the Doctor doubtfully.

To his surprise, Douglas laughed. "Course I do, old sport! I've been there myself! You got a lady on the brain!"

The Doctor grimaced. "You're half-right."

"Ha! Come on, Doc, we're both sensible guys! I know the score: forlorn expression, isolatin' yourself, getting all feisty and what not. It's a lady, my friend. Otherwise, you wouldn't be such a frickin' girl about it."

The Doctor chuckled. "I see."

"Go to her."

He grimaced again. "It's not that simple, Doug."

"Bullshit. It's perfectly simple. How d'ya think I got darlin' Mary to marry a corny movie stiff like me? I stopped being a drag and I just went for it. It might work for you too."

The Doctor sighed. How could he explain his situation to one of the most vapid humans in existence? "She's... got her own life. I don't want to invade it."

That worked.

"Buddy, if it's meant to be..."

"But I know that it's _not _meant to be! I know that she survives it all without me, I know what happens to her, I know who rescues her, I know she ends up happy..." he froze.

"Old sport, you're not making any goddamned sense. I can only assume that your love for this girl is making you delirious."

"It's not what you think."

"Don't insult my intelligence, Doc. You're a love=stuck man. Even if you don't... ya know... _get it on_ with her..."

The Doctor cringed. She was _twelve._

"...at least talk to her again. Maybe it'll help."

The Doctor swallowed. He was listening to the advice of Douglas Fairbanks.

"Listen, buddy, I better get back to my Mary. She'll be, uh... she'll be needing a shoulder to cry on by now. You know how she is at these events..."

"Her own wedding?"

"Hey, it's happened before..!"

"Oh. Yeah."

Douglas started to walk back to the mansion. "I'll see you around, Doc! If ya find Chaplin, tell him from me that he's a useless crook who wouldn't know what a glass of scotch was if he goddamned sat on one!"

The Doctor watched Douglas stumble back inside, and listened to the crowd cheer upon his return. Instead of looking for Charlie, he ducked back into the shadows and hastily snuck back into the TARDIS. One brief glance upwards at the starry sky strengthened his resolve.

What a weak, anchored man.

_A/N: ok so that was a bit short 'n' shit, but I promise the next bit's coming up fairly soon. _

_Historical reference: 1920, United Artists Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford got married. Their wedding was attended by every single 20's celebrity you can think of. _

_Thanks for all the reviews. I appreciate them, do keep them coming._


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